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Federal contractor sentenced for removing and transmitting classified materials

August 24, 2018 By Andrew Smith

Reality Winner was sentenced yesterday to five years and three months in prison for removing classified national defense material from a government facility and mailing it to a news outlet.

Winner was arrested by the FBI at her home in Augusta, Georgia on June 3, 2017.  The parties filed a plea agreement on June 21, in which Winner agreed to plead guilty to the one-count indictment charging her with unlawful retention and transmission of national defense information.  The parties agreed that a sentence of imprisonment for 63 months followed by a three-year term of supervised release is the appropriate disposition of the case.  The Court accepted the plea agreement at sentencing.

Winner was a contractor assigned to a unit of Fort Gordon in Georgia. She had been employed at the facility since on or about Feb. 13, 2017, and held a TOP SECRET//Sensitive Compartmented (SCI) clearance during that time.  Prior to that position, Winner had served in the U.S. Air Force from 2010-2016 and held a TOP SECRET//SCI security clearance.

  • Evidence presented at the change of plea hearing established that on or about May 9, 2017, Winner printed an intelligence report that was classified at the TOP SECRET//SCI level, and she removed it from the facility where she worked.  Information may be classified as TOP SECRET if its unauthorized disclosure can reasonably be expected to cause exceptionally grave damage to the national security of the United States.
  • Later on May 9, Winner unlawfully transmitted a hard copy of the intelligence report to an online news outlet. The intelligence report revealed the sources and methods used to acquire the information contained in the report, which, if disclosed, would be harmful to the United States and valuable to our adversaries.

Indeed, Winner, in an interview with the FBI on June 3, 2017, admitted knowing at the time she stole and transmitted the intelligence report that it contained information about intelligence sources and methods, which information she knew was valuable to adversaries of the United States.  Further, the information contained in the intelligence report had not been released to the public at the time Winner retained it and transmitted it to the online news outlet.  Winner, who had received training regarding the proper handling, marking, transportation, and storage of classified information, knew that she was not permitted to remove the intelligence report from the facility where she worked, retain it, or transmit it to the news outlet.

The investigation of this case was conducted by the FBI.

Source: https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/federal-government-contractor-sentenced-removing-and-transmitting-classified-materials-news

See earlier article on this subject at: https://gtpac.org/2018/06/30/contractor-employee-pleads-guilty-to-espionage-in-connection-with-nsa-data-leak/

Filed Under: Contracting News Tagged With: classified information, DOJ, espionage, Espionage Act, FBI, Ft. Gordon, Justice Dept., leak, NSA

Contractor employee pleads guilty to espionage in connection with NSA data leak

June 30, 2018 By Andrew Smith

U.S. Air Force veteran Reality Winner — the first person prosecuted by the Trump administration for leaking government information — pleaded guilty Tuesday to espionage for leaking a classified document detailing Russian efforts to hack into state election systems to an online news magazine.

“She pled guilty to willful retention and transmission of national defense information,” said Billie Jean Winner-Davis.

Winner’s lead defense attorney, Baker Donelson partner and former general counsel of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security Joe Whitley, said in a written statement after Winner’s plea, “She has taken this matter seriously, and has made a very difficult decision that will no doubt impact the rest of her life.”

“Obviously, her final sentencing is still pending, and she has a number of conditions and restrictions in her plea agreement that she is committed to honoring,” Whitley said. “However, Reality wishes to thank the numerous individuals and organizations who have supported her through this process.”

Winner, jailed without bond since her arrest more than a year ago at her Augusta, Georgia, home, pleaded guilty as part of a deal with federal prosecutors, who recommended a 63-month sentence followed by three years of supervised release, Winner-Davis said.

Keep reading this article at: https://www.law.com/dailyreportonline/2018/06/26/reality-winner-pleads-guilty-to-espionage-faces-potential-5-year-sentence/

Filed Under: Contracting News Tagged With: classified information, espionage, Espionage Act, Ft. Gordon, leak, NSA

Defense contractors fear blowback in wake of leak about NSA snooping

June 17, 2013 By ei2admin

Defense  contractors with top-secret clearances are bracing for blowback from the  explosive National Security Agency (NSA) leaks scandal.

Former NSA contractor Edward Snowden’s revelations about two National  Security Agency programs has shaken the military-industrial complex, raising  questions about whether the government has lost control over who is cleared to  see sensitive information.

Experts said the new leaks, which follow massive disclosures to WikiLeaks by  Bradley Manning, a military intel analyst now on trial, could intensify pressure  on Washington to restrict access more tightly, as well as tighten the vetting of  those given clearances.

But it will be difficult — if not impossible — to impose control on a system  in which 1.4 million people now have some kind of clearance to see classified  information.

Keep reading this article at: http://thehill.com/blogs/defcon-hill/policy-and-strategy/304633-defense-contractors-fear-blowback-in-wake-of-leak-about-nsa-snooping 

Filed Under: Contracting News Tagged With: contractor performance, contractor personnel, leak, NSA, responsibility, security clearance

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